LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A new Downtown arena and city-county merger were hot topics during an intercity visit by about 50 Evansville and Vanderburgh County governmental and civic leaders to Louisville.
The visit occurred Wednesday and Thursday.
Members of the tour, including Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel, Vanderburgh County Commissioners President Jeff Korb and County Council members Donna Leader and Marsha Abell, sat through a presentation on unified government led by Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson.
Abramson pointed to the streamlining of government and economic development as being among the biggest benefits.
When companies are considering moving to Louisville, Abramson said, he and staff meet with their officers.
"When they get up to leave they ask me, 'OK, who do we need to talk to next?' I tell them, 'I'm it.'"
The group discussed previous attempts to merge Louisville and Jefferson County governments, why they failed and why the most recent attempt succeeded.
"We ran it like a political campaign," said Louisville attorney Ed Glasscock.
"One key was to identify a 'face' for the campaign and use him to sell the idea to the public."
As in a political campaign, Deputy Mayor William Summers IV said, the leadership identified members of the community whose voices would be respected and worked with them to get the message out to voters.
Other efforts included daily polling, which allowed supporters to head-off a last minute crisis.
"Shortly before the vote, we saw a drop in support among women aged 25 to 35, and we had no idea why," Abramson said.
"But we mobilized volunteers to visit day cares. They passed out fliers and answered questions to women dropping off and picking up their children."
Another area presentation that garnered a lot of interest was on Louisville's new downtown arena, scheduled to open in 2010.
One vital element to the project was a $75 million verbal commitment to the project from then-Gov. Ernie Fletcher, which covered the cost of land acquisition.
Joe Reagan of Greater Louisville Inc., the community's chamber of commerce, said the Kentucky Legislature was reluctant to fully fund that commitment, and when it did, it added riders concerning who the city could hire to do the work.
But because Louisville's leadership brought a large coalition together and spoke with one voice, it was able to get the Legislature to fully honor the governor's $75 million promise without amendments.
Matt Meadors, CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of Southwest Indiana, said what he saw in the presentation was an "inclusive community effort."
"When presenting new ideas, it's vital to have a broad base of community support and to listen to the community and address people's issues and concerns ... whether you're talking about unified government or a new arena."
Weinzapfel said he had heard several ideas he might consider bringing back to Evansville, such as a campaign to identify things that make the area special and use them to brand the city to make it more identifiable to people in other parts of the county.
But while "a new Downtown arena and unified government are issues in both our communities, they are ones we both have spent a lot of time thinking about. It's interesting to hear another perspective, but we have to remember what works in Louisville might not work in Evansville."
Abell said as she sat through the presentations, one thought kept striking her.
"These people really love their city," Abell said.
"We need to love Evansville the same way. We need to realize the things our city has to offer and appreciate them."